Trump Calls Clinton Supporters 'Animals'

Speaking at a rally Sunday, Donald Trump called people supporting Hillary Clinton "animals" in a tweet after someone firebombed the GOP headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina. It was unclear who firebombed the office. Trump also continued to claim the election is "rigged" with help from the media promoting false stories about him. (Published Monday, Oct. 17, 2016)

Authorities are investigating after a local Republican Party office in North Carolina was vandalized and set on fire in what a state GOP official called an act of "political terrorism."

A bottle filled with flammable liquid was thrown through the window of the Orange County Republican Party headquarters overnight, damaging the interior before burning out, according to a Sunday news release from the town of Hillsborough. The office was empty and no one was injured.

A tweet from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Sunday said the attack "is horrific and unacceptable. Very grateful that everyone is safe." An hour later, Trump tweeted: "Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning."

The North Carolina GOP tweeted thanks to both Clinton and Trump for their words of support.

Republican offices around the state are re-examining their security, state GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse said. People sometimes work after-hours in the office, and the bottle appeared to have landed on or near the couch where volunteers sometimes take naps, he said.

"They are working around the clock. It is a miracle that nobody was killed," he said in an interview, calling the fire an act of "political terrorism."

On Sunday afternoon, the walls of the multi-room office were covered in black char, and a couch against one wall had been burned down to its springs. Shattered glass covered the floor, and melted campaign yard signs showed warped lettering. The graffiti had been covered in paint.

At a news conference, Woodhouse urged Republicans to respond peacefully by turning out to vote in November. He said he'd received messages of support from Democrats.

Democrats also joined a GoFundMe campaign to raise $10,000 to reopen the GOP office, meeting the goal in less than 40 minutes and "showing that Americans are thirsty for civility and decency, and that we love our democracy above all differences," said the fund's creator, David Weinberger, a researcher at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Orange County GOP chairman Daniel Ashley told reporters no one had previously made violent threats against the office, several miles from the town's historic square.

Tom Stevens, mayor of the town about 40 miles northwest of Raleigh, said the act doesn't represent the character of Orange County, which also includes much of Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina campus. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 3-1 margin in the county that picked President Barack Obama by a lopsided margin in the 2012 election.

"I'd like to believe we aspire to respect hearing differing views," Stevens, a Democrat, said in an interview. "This is very troubling."